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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23028514">The sea's secret (main story)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_some_gt_trash/pseuds/just_some_gt_trash'>just_some_gt_trash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The sea's secret [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Human!Deceit, Human!OC, M/M, Other, Unsympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Unsympathetic Deceit Sanders, familiar!logince, human!logan, human!roman, mer!Virgl, mer!oc, mer!patton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:35:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23028514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_some_gt_trash/pseuds/just_some_gt_trash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sanders Siblings, Logan, Roman and Jane (oc), find a merman who’s being studied by Dr.Dee, Logan’s boss, from that moment their lives become far from normal, except for Jane, who’s life was already far from normal.</p><p>This event would be the start of uncountable adventures and troubles, relationships and heartbreaks, new family and deaths, goodbyes and reencounters, stick around and enjoy!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The sea's secret [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655032</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1 - The beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_can_get_extra_with_my_fics/gifts">i_can_get_extra_with_my_fics</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The girl struggled in her bed turn the alarm off, even if today was Saturday, Roman wanted her an Logan to go in some ‘family experience’ or something, so they had to be up early.</p><p>As she sat in her bed while yawning, she couldn’t stop thinking about the idea she had last night when Roman announced his, maybe being the three of them together alone was a good chance to tell them.</p><p>She wanted to tell her brothers her biggest secret.</p><p>She wanted to tell them she was a mermaid.</p><p>She still had some troubles with that though, on one side, Logan was a marine biologist and even if she was almost sure he wouldn’t dare to take her to a lab she didn’t want to risk, maybe just tell Roman was good for now.</p><p>She would have stood there thinking if it wasn’t for the knocking that sounded from her door with a voice, Roman’s voice.</p><p>“Hey Jane, are you awake?”</p><p>“Yeah... I’ll be out in a moment...”</p><p>“Okay, but hurry up, you know how impatient Logan is”</p><p>Roman’s commentary made her giggle, that sounded like Logan, ever since they were younger he had always been like that, especially with her and when she first joined the family, after all, bonding with Logan was pretty hard, and that was another thing that made her doubt.</p><p>She had always been closer to Roman after all.</p><p>She snapped herself out of her thoughts this time and started getting ready before Logan started to get impatient.</p><p>Once she was ready she headed to the kitchen to find Logan reading while Roman packed some things in a bag.</p><p>“Good morning” </p><p>“Salutations, it seems like you’re finally ready” said Logan closing his book and standing up.</p><p>“Take it easy Microsoft nerd, not everyone has an obsession with punctuality like you” said Roman while closing the bag.</p><p>“Well, everyone, or at least you two, should, anyways where are you going to take us Roman?”</p><p>“I already told you, it’s a surprise, you need to chill and just take a leap of faith and trust in me more often”</p><p>Logan and Jane looked at each other, both doubting if trusting Roman was a good idea.</p><p>The three of them got out of the house and started walking with Roman on the lead, Logan kept insisting on knowing where was he taking them, until they arrived, to the dock.<br/>
“Ta-da!” said Roman when he stopped and turned to see his siblings.</p><p>“And... what are we supposed to be doing here?” Asked Logan.</p><p>“First, I need your phones”</p><p>“What? Why?” Said Jane and Logan together.</p><p>“Because, you” he pointed to Jane “are always with your headphones, and you” he pointed at Logan “always get a call from work or something like that, so, I decided, this is a no phones day” he finished while extending his hands and smirking.</p><p>Once both phones were on Roman’s hands and subsequently on his backpack, he started walking again to one of the boats whit his smile not leaving his face, just to stop again in front of the boat’s door while getting a pair of keys out of his pocket.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you rented a boat” said Jane, she never liked boats, ironically, she always got sick very easily, an also, the water splashed very easily to the top, and getting wet without nowhere to run was not an option.</p><p>“Oh yes I did” Roman used one of the keys to open the door of the boat “ladies first” he said extending his arms to let his sister in.</p><p>Without nothing more to say she got into the boat, followed by Logan and then Roman.</p><p>“I don’t get it, you already have a boat, why bothering on renting one?” Asked Logan looking around.</p><p>“Do you really prefer spending all the day in a small fishing boat?”</p><p>“I guess you do have a point”</p><p>“Speaking of which, I think there are some fishing rods in the back, Jane, could you bring them and maybe we can try and catch something for lunch”</p><p>“Aye aye captain, as long as we stay in the fishing zones” she said while going to the back to grab them.</p><p>“May I remind you that we haven’t had breakfast? Do we really have to wait until we manage to catch something?”</p><p>”Relax, I packed some food for the meantime”</p><p>”Tell me that at least is something healthy”</p><p>”You tell me” Roman passed his backpack to Logan ”Jam and peanut butter sandwiches”</p><p>”Which jam?”</p><p>”Crofters, obviously"</p><p>”I’ll eat some then” he said heading to the front of the boat, there was a coffee table and a large couch.</p><p>Roman stayed at the cabin, turned the boat on and started to get on open sea.</p><p>Jane came back to the front with the fishing rods and Logan helped her fishing when Roman stopped the boat.</p><p>The two of them spent some minutes waiting for something, Logan sitting on the couch while Jane was standing next to her rod, resting her arms on the edges of the boat watching the sea, now that they weren't moving anymore she couldn't get sick or wet, so there was no risk.</p><p>Everything was calm and normal until Jane felt something and noticed that the pearl, on her bracelet, was shining, she leaned a little bit to see if she could find the cause of it, unsuccessful, she leaned a little more, whoever they were, they pearl must be shining too, so they should be looking for the cause too, so they should be near.</p><p>“Jane”</p><p>She almost fell to the water when she heard the voice of her brother calling her, when she recovered her balance she turned to see Roman keeping her hands on her back, making sure her left hand covered the pearl that was still shining.</p><p>“Hey Roman, what do you need?” She asked, trying to sound the less nervous as possible.</p><p>“I want to talk to you” he stopped talking to look at Logan for a moment and then return his gaze to his sister’s eyes “In private” he concluded and started walking back to the cabin.</p><p>“O-okay...” Jane started following Roman gazing back at Logan momentarily, who didn’t seem to notice their little talk, to be honest, her brother’s tone was worrying her, he was never that serious about something.</p><p>What if he already knew? What if he saw her on her mermaid form and she didn’t notice? What is this whole ‘family bonding time’ was to trap her? Or what if he was planning on exposing her in front of Logan?</p><p>She shook those thoughts out of her head and went inside the cabin, just before Roman closed the door behind her “so, what did you wanted to talk about?”</p><p>“Okay, uhm... how do I explain this?.. first of all, I don’t want you to worry, it’s nothing serious... I think...”</p><p>“Roman, chill, just spit it out” yes, she was nervous, but it looked like Roman was way more nervous, she just wanted to get this over with.</p><p>“Okay, here’s the thing. I think, I saw a mermaid”</p><p>Jane froze, those words, those were the words she was most afraid of “w-what?”</p><p>“Jane, I’m sure I saw a mermaid, well, a merman actually”</p><p>The girl felt her body relax as soon as those last words left Roman’s mouth, she still was worried though, what if that merman Roman saw was the one causing the shining of her bracelet? Even if he wasn’t the cause of it, the fact that Roman had saw one of her kind confirmed their existence, and that meat she could be closer to being discovered.</p><p>“I wanted to tell you first because I know Logan won’t believe me and I wanted you to help me convince him, because you believe me right?”</p><p>“I-I guess? I mean, w-why do you think you saw a merman?”</p><p>“Well, I was rehearsing for the auditions near the shore the other night and then I noticed there was another voice singing with me, I started to look around for the source and I saw someone sitting on a rock, I called him and we looked at each other’s eyes for a moment before he got into the water, I tried to stop him but I froze when I saw a tail behind him, and then he disappeared... look, I won’t blame you if you don’t believe me, maybe I was just really tired or I don’t know, but I know I want to believe that I saw what I saw”</p><p>“Roman... I-“ Jane couldn’t finish her sentence because of the sound the horn of a ship, a much larger one that was getting closer, Jane focused on it, it was closer now and she could read D Researches on the side, that was a ship from Logan’s work, great.</p><p>Jane and Roman got out of the cabin when both noticed Logan stood up and started talking to a man in the ship.</p><p>“So Lo, I guess these are your siblings” said the man.</p><p>“Oh yes, Dr. Dee, he’s my brother Roman and she’s my sister Jane” said Logan while gesturing to each of them when he said their name.</p><p>“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, you won’t believe how much Logan talks about you”</p><p>“Aww, really? Do you love us that much?” Said Roman teasing Logan.</p><p>“Well that’s weird ‘cause he rarely mentions you” whispered Jane to herself, she was almost sure Logan won’t dare to keep her in a lab, but any other scientist? The thought of that gave her hives, she glanced quickly to her bracelet, it was still shining, and that was bad, she crossed her arms trying to hide it, then, Logan’s rod started to move.</p><p>“Oh, I think we caught something” said Roman while grabbing the rod.</p><p>“So, I guess I’ll continue now, I don’t want to keep bothering you in your free day”</p><p>“Yes, I think it will be the best if we both go back to-“</p><p>“Hey Lo, could you help me with this, it seems it’s too strong” said Roman interrupting Logan.</p><p>“Wait really? Usually you’re the strongest of us” he said holding the rod and pulling a little with no success “Odd” he tried again, with more strength this time.</p><p>Jane noticed Dr. Dee was very interested in what her brothers were doing, too interested to notice Jane’s bracelet, that was shining even brighter now, but Jane did, and she quickly got her hand inside of one of her pockets to hide it.</p><p>Roman and Logan kept pulling the rod and whatever that was at the end of it with no success "What the hell did we catch?!" Shouted Roman and Jane feared the answer to that question, but it seemed that Dr. Dee was more intrigued than any of the others there, he made some signs to the rest of the people on his ship and they started moving until some of them hung something on a pulley. A net.</p><p>They started lowering it and that was when Roman and Logan noticed it due to the noise of the device, Logan didn't give it a lot of importance and continued with the attempt to bring up the end of the rod, however, a thought entered Roman’s head ’what if this was the merman? He could get caught in the net and then in a laboratory’ and without thinking twice he let go of the rod.</p><p>This almost threw Logan to the water but he managed to keep his balance, unfortunately, the rod was already on the water, sinking and disappearing from sight.<br/>
”Why did you let go?” Asked Logan to Roman a little annoyed.</p><p>”In case you didn't notice, your boss and his workers were attempting to catch it” Roman whispered, making sure the people on the other ship couldn't hear him.</p><p>”And what would have been the problem on that? That creature was way stronger than anything we have studied before, I could have been, figuratively, a huge discovery”</p><p>While her brothers continued arguing, Jane got closer to the edge trying to visualize something, and she did, the rod was somehow coming back to the surface, then, she realized the rod was not the only thing returning, the net was too, and it was full “uh guys” she said trying to get Roman and Logan’s attention.</p><p>Both boys looked at Jane, the net rising in front of her, the tree of them paralyzed when it’s content came to the light, a merman.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1 - Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Roman and Jane, worried abou the merman, follow Logan, Dee and the other scientist to their lab to check on him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Fascinating” said Logan, who had moved to Dr. Dee’s ship, as he looked at the merman in the net, the ship was going back to land to take the sea creature to the lab to study him.</p><p>Roman and Jane stayed behind as they watched the other ship fading on the distance, both of them were too shocked to react, until Jane went back into the cabin and turned the boat on with only one thought on her mind. She had to save that merman.</p><p>She was about to move the boat forward when Roman’s hand fell in top of hers stopping her “Where do you think you’re going?”</p><p>“I’m going to follow Logan, and stop him from doing something stupid” she whispered that last part, she knew how to deal with her kind, but Logan or any other humans didn’t, she knew that merman was in danger, but she couldn’t discard the fact that Logan could too.</p><p>“No you’re not, look, I know what you’re thinking, but I’m sure Logan won’t let anyone hurt him, and this is surely like some top secret thing now or something, and they won’t let us get involved that easily, so” he took Jane’s hands and moved them away from the rudder “we are going home, we’ll ask Logan what happened when he gets home”</p><p>“And you really think he’ll tell us? You said it, it’s some top secret thing or whatever” she took her hands off from Roman’s “Was he the one you saw?”</p><p>“I’m not sure but... I think he wasn’t”</p><p>Shit. That means there is a pack nearby. How come she never saw anyone before?</p><p>“And that means there’s more” Said Roman interrupting his sister’s thoughts “Logan doesn’t need to know that, and you know how bad I am at keeping secrets, another reason to go back home”</p><p>“But, don’t you think there’s a reason why almost nobody claimed to see a mermaid before? There has to be a reason why they want to stay as a secret” of course there was “And whatever that is, I’m sure I’ll be good enough to convince you to go there and rescue him” Humans were dangerous. That’s basic knowledge for any sea creature, Jane knows a lot of nice people, but she knows most humans are desperate to understand what they don’t, without mattering the cost.</p><p>“Look, sorry, I don’t care what you think, I’m going there” she took the rudder again, only to be stopped by Roman again “Roman plea-“</p><p>“I’m sailing”</p><p>“W- wait what?”</p><p>“I know how to sail, you don’t, and if we want to get to Logan’s work without dying, I’m sailing”</p><p>Jane smiled to her brother, getting aside to let Roman sail back to land.</p><p> </p><p>Logan’s coworkers were transporting the merman inside the labs and into a thank, for what he had observed on the way there, the creature didn’t have the ability to talk, but he seemed to understand when he had tried to ask him questions, he was talking to Dr. Dee when he noticed a boat coming from the distance, he recognized that boat, it was the one Roman had rented. </p><p>Apparently he watched at it approaching for a long time, because Dee turned around and saw it too, the boat stopped and Logan saw his siblings getting down and he immediately walked to them “What are you doing here? I told you to go back home”</p><p>“We...ah...” Said Jane, trying to find coherent words to explain.</p><p>“We were just curious” Roman interrupted “I mean, you don’t see a merman everyday right?”</p><p>“You can’t be here, this discovery is classified, we can’t have any more people kno-“</p><p>“Logan” called Dr. Dee, who was now standing next to them “They already saw it, there’s no reason why they can’t get involved, if you’re willing to keep the secret of course” he said this last part looking straight to Roman and Jane.</p><p>“Of course, we will” they said simultaneously, Jane with a little more annoyed tone because of the 'it'.</p><p>”Dr. Dee” one of the workers had got out of the building, Logan and Dee walked to him and Jane and Roman followed them ”All ready, you can go in” said the other man.<br/>”Very well” Dr. Dee went inside the building, once again being followed by the Sanders siblings.</p><p>Inside of the building, Dee took them downstairs, there were just a few doors, but they were going to one that was at the very end of the hallway.<br/>It was a grey door, with a sign that said ’danger quarantine’.</p><p>”Mhm... I don't mean to judge you or anything, but, why are we going inside of a quarantine zone?” asked Roman, getting a death glare from Logan but a chuckle from Dr. Dee.</p><p>“Don't worry Roman, I can assure you there's no risk of quarantine in there, it's just a strategy, nobody dares to enter a room where there is a sign like this one” he said opening the door.</p><p>All of them went inside, Roman and Jane looking everywhere around, there place was loaded with computers, there was a table at the center full of microscopes, flasks, and all kinds of containers and substances, and there were people walking around.</p><p>There was a little pool at the end of the room, as they got closer, Jane could see someone swimming inside, the merman from before.</p><p>Suddenly, she could feel her bracelet shining again, and she covered it almost unconsciously.</p><p>Soon, they were at the edge of the pool, Dr. Dee and Logan were talking to someone, Roman had kneeled to take a better look at the merman, who was at the very end of the pool, and Jane was a little away from the edge, she wanted to make sure she wouldn't get wet.</p><p>Roman was still quite shocked, he had saw a merman before, but it was for a really short time he almost thought he had imagined it, and now he was watching one and he was sure it wasn't a hallucination, and it now seemed he was getting closer, wait, he was getting closer.</p><p>Jane noticed it too, the merman was now closer to the top, and from one moment to another, his head got out of the water, or sort of, half of his head was out of the water, only his eyes could be seen as he swam closer to the edge, closer to the humans.</p><p>Dee, Logan and other workers stopped talking to look at him, he was now inches away from Roman, slowly, he got his full head and his neck out of the water, revealing a golden necklace with a light blue pearl that was shining, just as Jane's bracelet but only she noticed that.</p><p>Before anyone could do something, he sunk down again, leaving his tail on top of the water.</p><p>”What is he doing?” Asked Logan, as if anyone knew the answer, but Jane did, she realized what he was trying to do, he was going to wet them to find out who was causing his necklace to glow, she quickly stepped away of the pool just in time to see her theory was correct, the merman used his tail to splash water and Logan, Roman, Dr. Dee and other two workers were completely soaked, the merman got his head out of the water again, just to turn his smile into a confused look, the five men groaned trying to get as dry as possible, Logan was cleaning his glasses, and other workers brought towels for Dr. Dee ”I guess we'll have to get used to it doing that” he said, he turned to see the merman and that's when he noticed the shining of his necklace ”Why is that thing glowing?” He asked, again, as if anyone knew.</p><p>He made a sign with his hands and some workers pulled the merman closer to the shore.</p><p>He struggled trying to get away from the human, but it was worthless, Dr. Dee kneeled, took the necklace and turned it between his hands ”What are you trying to do?” He said, then he reached behind the merman's neck and took the necklace off, the moment the necklace stopped touching him it stopped glowing, as well as Janes bracelet ”You won’t try anything now” he stood up and left the necklace on the table to take a better look at it later.</p><p>Jane could only limit to look at the scared and desperate face on the merman, she stopped covering her bracelet and started playing with her hair to contain herself of doing something to defend him, she had to wait for the perfect moment to act.</p><p>Another man entered to the room ”Dr. Dee, the new equipment has arrived, but we need the hole team, most of them have the day free” he announced, Dr. Dee made a sign with his hands again and all the people started getting out of the room.</p><p>”You can come too Roman, an extra pair of hands is always helpful” he said looking at Roman ”and Jane” he turned to her ”you can go and see us work or you can stay here with this”</p><p>Jane tried to stay calm despite both the male chauvinist comment and the fact that he called the merman 'this'.</p><p>”I’ll stay here” she said, realizing this was the perfect chance to talk to the merman.</p><p>”Are you sure?” Asked Roman standing up.</p><p>”Yeah, don't worry, the worst he can do is splash me” and yeah, that was really the worst that could happen.</p><p>”We’ll come for you when we finish” said Logan, the three of them got out of the room with the others, just when the door closed Jane felt something on her back, water. ”You had to talk Jane” She groaned and  turned to the merman who was watching her with an excited face, Jane looked around, double checking that there was no one left in the room before she jumped to the pool.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 1 - Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jane has the chance to get to know the merman, now definately sure she has to help him</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bubbles surrounded Jane, both because of the splash and because of the magic, and in a matter of seconds, her hair was longer with the ends dyed in a dark shade of pink, a tail in the same color replaced her legs, the scales of it went all the way up her torso, being used as a top, and she was face to face with the merman.</p><p>”It’s you! Oh thank Poseidon there's a mermaid with the humans!” He said taking Jane's hands, now she could finally take a good look at him, he had a little messy brown hair with light blue streaks and his eyes and tail were the same shade of blue.</p><p>”Were you captured too? Do they force you to be human? Do they have you as a slave?!” He asked, with each question he squished the girl’s hands more.</p><p>”woah, woah, woah, calm down please, first of all, they don't force me to do anything”</p><p>”Oh. Then why do you live in land?” He asked curious.</p><p>”Long story, but second of all, how do you knew it was me? How did you know I was the mermaid?”</p><p>”Easy, I saw your bracelet, you stopped covering it when it stopped shining, you were in the boat earlier too right?”</p><p>”Yeah” she said taking her hands back ”I can't stop thinking that it was kind of my fault you got captured”</p><p>”Oh no, I was trying to free the fish from the fishing rod, sure, I got closer because my necklace started to shine, but is not your fault kiddo!”</p><p>Kiddo? ”Well, leaving that aside we haven't properly introduce ourselves”</p><p>”Right, where are my manners? I’m Patton”</p><p>”Or should you say, Prince Patton” She said with a smirk.</p><p>Patton's eyes opened wide ”H-how did you..?”</p><p>”Your necklace is golden and you don't have a crown so you couldn't be a king” replied Jane before he could finish the question.</p><p>”Right, but let's keep it in Patton please, and you are?”</p><p>”I’m Jane, nice to meet you Patton, even if it's in this situation”</p><p>”Nice to meet you too” He said with a smile.</p><p>There was an uncomfortable silence for some seconds before Jane spoke again ”Does your pack live nearby? I could tell them where you are, or warn them not to get close to the shore for a time”</p><p>”My pack... no, they're not nearby. I kinda... swam away” he said with a nervous giggle.</p><p>”You swam away? Alone?”</p><p>”I'm not alone, my friend...” he stopped talking, realizing what he was saying ”I can trust you, right?”</p><p>”Patton, of course, I might be living on land, but I always help one of my kind, I won't tell anything to them”</p><p>”Do you promise?” He said, bending his tail a little on Jane's direction.</p><p>Jane took a moment to understand what Patton was trying to do until she remembered, the little mermaids did something like the pinky promise, but instead of rolling up the pinkies, they did it with the tails.</p><p>”I promise” she said, rolling up her tail with Patton's for some seconds ”And I promise I'll get you out of here too” she added before pulling their tails apart.</p><p>”My friend Virgil” Patton started talking again, retaking from where he stopped before ”he swam away with me, there's an underwater cave near where they captured me, he should be there”</p><p>”Got it, I'll go find him as soon as I can, and I think I better go back to my human form before someone comes back”</p><p>”Right, oh, one more thing, come here” he said, swimming to the end of the pool, Jane followed him, there was a gate big enough to pass through it if it opened, it leaded to the ocean.</p><p>”I was trying to open it before, but it was useless, maybe you could open it from the outside”</p><p>”I'll try, don't worry, I told you, I'm getting you out of here”</p><p>Patton gave the girl a big smile ”let's go, before the humans come back” he said, both swam to the top of the pool, Jane got out of it sitting on the edge and getting her tail out of the water, she used her magic to dry herself, and after some seconds, she was back to her human form.</p><p>Patton swam to the edge and rested his arms on it “we still have time to talk don’t we?”</p><p>“I think we do” said Jane shifting to a more comfortable position “am I allowed to keep asking questions or do you want to know something?”</p><p>“I would like to know why are you living on earth?”</p><p>“Are you sure, it’s quite a long story” she said, she felt a little uncomfortable talking about it, nobody else knew the whole story.</p><p>“We have time, and I really want to know, please” he begged, making puppy eyes.</p><p>Jane sighed “Ok, but only if you tell me your story afterwards”</p><p>“Deal”</p><p>“Ok, why do I live in land? Well... when I was around five, something, I don’t really remember what, attacked my pack, my parents told me to swim away, and I did it, I hid and waited, but nobody came, I knew there weren’t other packs around, and I realized that nobody was going to help me, I remember there was a rumor that there was a merman living in land, I went to look for her, and she helped me, she taught me the basics of both our kind and humans, she helped me to get papers and to get out of there, she said she couldn’t take care of me, I was with her for a year or so and then she sent me here”</p><p>“Wait wait, where are you from?” Asked Patton, interrupting Jane.</p><p>“I’m from Australia, but I didn’t want to live there anymore anyways, so, she paid me a flight here, and for four years I went from state to state, city to city, home to home, every time with the same history, that I was an exchange student and I had to stay with a family for a time, and I never really got that attached to anyone, until I ended on the Sanders house, you saw my brothers, Roman and Logan, it took me just a few days to connect with Roman, and after a few months I had the same connection with Logan, and they parents were so nice to me, it really felt like home, one day, the fact that my biological parents were dead slipped from my mouth, and after a year, I was living with them as their child, they adopted me, they gave me a home, and they became my family”</p><p>“Jane” interrupted Patton again “you’re crying”</p><p>Jane touched he cheek, it was indeed wet “don’t worry” she said wiping her tears “I can’t transform with tears”</p><p>“It’s okay if you don’t want to keep talking about i-“</p><p>“I’m fine, I’m glad to have someone to talk about this, about all of it”</p><p>Patton smiled and Jane continued “we moved here when Logan finished college, we’re not so far from our parents tough”</p><p>“And then you found me, and here we are”</p><p>“Exactly, and now it’s your turn to tell me your story, why did you leave your pack?”</p><p>“It’s not really that interesting... it’s kind of selfish too...”</p><p>“I won’t judge you, promise”</p><p>Patton sighed “I wasn’t ready, to be king, I’m about to turn twenty, and that means”</p><p>“You’re about to be crowned”</p><p>“Right, but I can’t do it, and Virge caught me getting away, he said he wasn’t going to let me alone and he came with me”</p><p>“Why don’t you feel ready?”</p><p>“I don’t know, my father is always busy, working all the time, and I don’t want to throw my life away like that, I tried to talk to him, but he never listens, I had planned to go around the world with Virgil, but this happened”</p><p>“And again, I’m going to get you out of here”</p><p>Before any of them could say another thing, the door opened.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 1 - Part 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Attempting to help Patton, Jane goes to the sea to find Virgil</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>”Logan said that they can finish without me, and that we better head home” said Roman going inside the room ”anything new with him?”</p><p>”well, I've been talking to him, but without an answer” Jane lies while standing up ”I don't think he'll get to trust some random humans anyway”</p><p>”Any ideas to get him out?” He asked watching how Patton went under the water and swam in circles.</p><p>”nope, none” she lied again ”we'll figure something out, let's go home”</p><p>”yeah, let's go” he said, both siblings started walking out of the lab, while closing the door.</p><p> </p><p>They got out of the building and into the boat again, they took it to the dock and gave it to it’s owner, then they walked to their home.</p><p>“You’ve been quiet since we left the lab” said Roman, looking worriedly at Jane.</p><p>”Nah, its nothing, I'm just thinking about the merman“</p><p>”Yeah, me too” he said, and once again there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence.</p><p>”It's a shame we had to cancel what you had planned” said Jane, trying to break the silence.</p><p>”But it gives us an excuse to do it again” he smiled.</p><p>”I guess you're right” she said with a giggle ”Can I ask you something?”</p><p>”Sure”</p><p>”How was him?”</p><p>”What? How was who?”</p><p>”The merman you saw while rehearsing”</p><p>”Oh, well, I remember his tail was purple as well as his hair, and I think his tail had black spots and he was very pale, he went away so fast, that's all I remember”</p><p>”So you wouldn't recognize his face if you saw him?”</p><p>”If it was just his face I don't think I could, but I'm pretty sure I only know two mermen, and they're way to different to confuse them”</p><p>Jane huffed at the comment ’yeah, you also know a mermaid’ she thought to herself.</p><p>Once the silence broke, they continued talking about usual stuff, the school, the rehearsals, the play, until they arrived home, they went inside and Roman went to the kitchen, Jane took out her phone, that Roman returned to her when they got out of the boat, and pretended to check it.</p><p>”Hey Roman” she said to get his attention as she walked into the kitchen.</p><p>”Yeah?” Asked Roman, he had his apron on already, it was red and it had the word ’Prince’ with golden letters.</p><p>”Cath texted me, she wants to check somethings for the costumes designs”</p><p>”Jane, you can tell me if your girlfriend wants to have a date with you” he turned to see her with a grin on his face.</p><p>”Wha...S-She's not... We're not girlfriends” she said as her face turned red ”We just had a couple of dates, nothing big”</p><p>”Whatever you say, you can go, but return for dinner okay”</p><p>”I will, thanks, I'm going out from the back door” she said heading there, she made a little time and noise as if she was packing stuff on her backpack, when she thought it was enough, she got out of the house and walked to the beach.</p><p>Jane found a part that was empty, she made sure there was nobody there and jumped into the water, she had to find Virgil.</p><p> </p><p>Virgil was swimming around the entrance of the cave, Patton told him not to leave the cave, but he was taking so long, he was starting to worry, and his anxiety was kicking in.<br/>He stopped when he felt something, he touched his earring and did his best trying to look at it, it was glowing, it wasn't because of Patton, they already knew each other, so there was another mermaid or merman nearby.</p><p>He looked around, trying to spot someone, but nothing, and when he least expected a voice came from behind him.</p><p>“Hi” she said, freaking Virgil out, he turned around startled, to take a better look at her “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you”</p><p>“W-well, you could have approached slower or something...” said Virgil, almost whispering.</p><p>“You’re Virgil right?” She asked, the merman’s eyes opened wide.</p><p>“H-how did you...”</p><p>“I’ll tell you, but first I need you to come with me” she said, taking Virgil’s wrist “I’m Jane by the way” after revealing her name, Jane started swimming dragging Virgil with her.<br/>“H-hey wait!” He shouted, pulling his wrist away forcing Jane to stop “Were are you taking me?”</p><p>“I’ll tell you on the way, but we have to hurry”</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on, I don’t even know who you are and you know my name and I don’t know why, and, and I am supposed to wait for Patton on the cave but he’s taking longer than I th-“</p><p>“I know where Patton is”</p><p>Virgil stopped talking “what? I-is he okay?”</p><p>Jane extended her hand towards Virgil “Why don’t you come with me and see it for yourself?”</p><p>Virgil watched the hand and hesitantly took it “I hope this is not a trick”</p><p>“It isn’t” Jane started swimming again, this time Virgil swam too instead of being dragged.</p><p>After some time, they got to land, but they were deep enough to not get caught, Jane swam to the side, looking for the grid, until she found it ”He's in here” she took the bars of the grid and tried to look inside ”Patton” she said quietly but loud enough for anyone in the pool on the other side could hear.</p><p>Virgil tried to look inside too, a figure was getting closer, it wasn't until it was close enough that Virgil could tell what it was, or who it was ”Patton!” He said as he took the bars too.</p><p>”Virge!” Said Patton, reaching to grab his best friend's hands ”I'm glad you're okay”</p><p>”What happened? Why are you in there?”</p><p>”I was captured, but Jane promised to help”</p><p>”I also said I would find Virgil, and I did” said Jane</p><p>”Wait, how do you two know each other?”</p><p>”Well, I live in land, and I was with the humans that captured Patton when it happened” explained Jane.</p><p>”And you trusted her?” Asked Virgil looking at Patton.</p><p>”What?” Said the other two at the same time ”Why wouldn't I trust her? She's one of us” said Patton.</p><p>”But she's living with humans, and we can't trust humans, I bet she's been on land long enough to be like them”</p><p>”But I'm here, if I wanted to do something bad to you don't you think I would have done it already?”</p><p>”Virge, we can trust her, I'm sure she's going to help me get out of here”</p><p>Virgil stayed quiet for a moment ”Then what are we waiting for?”</p><p>Jane smiled and looked at the grid ”Patton tried to open it from the inside, maybe we'll be able to open it from outside” she said, noticing some screws on the top that held it ”I don't think we can take this off without an screwdriver”</p><p>”A what?” Asked Virgil.</p><p>”It's a tool used to put this things on, but it can also take them of” she said pointing to the screws.</p><p>”Why don't we just do this?” Before anyone could react, Virgil used his tail to hit the grid a couple of times.</p><p>”Virgil, I don't think that's going to work” said Jane, attempting to stop him.</p><p>”I just need more strength” he hit it once more, this time, the hit was much stronger, but the only thing it did was activate an alarm.</p><p>”Shit” cursed Jane ”We need to go, now” she said, as she started swimming away from the mermen.</p><p>”Virge you need to go” said Patton.</p><p>”I'm not going to leave you here”</p><p>”You'll come back, but it will be worse if someone comes and captures you too”</p><p>”You're right, I'll come back, promise” and after saying that, he swam away.</p><p>Jane and Virgil arrived to the cave were Virgil was staying after some minutes ”now what?” Asked the merman.</p><p>”We have to wait until tomorrow, It's to risky to go back now”</p><p>”Right, I guess I'll see you here then?”</p><p>”Yes, I need to go back to my house before my brothers start worrying” she started to swim out of the cave.</p><p>”Wait” he said, catching Jane's attention ”I just want you to know, I do trust you, but if you try to do something”</p><p>”I wont, you're making the right choice Virgil, I'll see you tomorrow” </p><p>And then Virgil was left alone.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 1 - Part 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Leaving the merman's subject aside, Jane tries to act as usual in front of her brothers</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jane swam to the shore, got out of the water and transformed back into a human, she tan to her house and went inside from the back door ”Roman I'm home” she said, walking to the dining room, there was food on the table already ”Are we not going to wait for Logan?”</p><p>”He said he was coming late, something activated an alarm I think, or that’s what he said”</p><p>Shit, she had to wait for Logan and question him about that.</p><p>“Anyways, how’s Cath?” He said, sitting and grinning.</p><p>”Stop smiling like that” she sat next to Roman ”we were just working, nothing else happened” she lied.</p><p>”I still can't believe you're dating a girl who's about to end college”</p><p>”And I still can't believe you're sill saying we're dating when I've told you hundreds of times we're not”</p><p>”But you like each other”</p><p>“I don’t know if she likes me”</p><p>“Wasn’t she the one who invited you to a date the first time?”</p><p>“Yeah, but...”</p><p>“You’re just looking for an excuse to not go out with her formally, you’re such a Dawn” said Roman, referencing Waitress.</p><p>Jane recognized the reference and faked an offended gasp “I’m not defensive, I’m simply being cautious, I can't risk reckless dating, due to my miscalculating, while a certain suitor stands in line” she sang smiling.</p><p>“I’ve seen in movies, most made for television, you cannot be too careful when it comes to sharing your life” Roman continued the song.</p><p>“I could end up a miserable wife!” They sang together before bursting into laughter.</p><p>“It’s never a bad time for a musical reference” said Roman.</p><p>“Even if I’m changing the subject?”</p><p>“Even if you’re changing the subject, but seriously, you should talk to her about it”</p><p>“Yeah I think I should”</p><p>Roman smiled at her and was about to serve the food when the door opened.</p><p>“I’m home” said Logan closing the door, he walked to the dining room “where you waiting for me, I told Roman you could start”</p><p>“We just got stuck in a conversation” Said Jane.</p><p>“How do you get stuck in a conversation?”</p><p>“Figuratively, specks” answered Roman “now come here so we can eat already”</p><p>Logan sat next to his siblings and they started eating, until the unavoidable topic came to light.</p><p>“So, what happened at work that made you come later?” Asked Jane, of course, she knew about the alarm and how had happened, but she wanted to know what happened after her and Virgil left.</p><p>“Something attacked the grid that connects the sea to where we have the merman activating the alarm, some of our workers went to check but when they arrived there was nothing out of the ordinary”</p><p>“Any idea of what might have caused it?” Said Roman, thinking briefly about the other merman he saw.</p><p>“No, but Dr. Dee didn’t want this to happen again without anyone knowing, we had to install a camera under the sea, that’s why I came home later”</p><p>Roman smiled widely and started singing Under the sea from the little mermaid while Logan groaned, but Jane was to immersed on her thoughts to join, with that camera there was jo way Virgil or her could get close enough to rescue Patton, that was going to be a problem, they had to figure out other way to free him.</p><p>“Earth calling Jane” said Roman, snapping his fingers in front of her ”Are you listening to us?”</p><p>”wha- oh yeah sorry, I was just thinking about something, what were you saying?” She said, grabbing a glass of water.</p><p>”Well, I started singing under the sea, and then I thought that Disney's idea of mermaids might be right”</p><p>”And I was telling him that, if it was an accurate interpretation, mermaids and or mermen should be able to transform into humans-” said Logan.</p><p>Before he could finish, Jane started coughing, she managed to put the glass away without spilling the water inside ”sorry, I'm okay” she coughed once more to get the sensation out of her throat before talk again ”do you thinking that's possible? The merpeople turning into humans thing?”</p><p>”merpeople?” Asked Logan.</p><p>”yeah, that's the right term, instead of saying mermaids and mermen”</p><p>”And you know this because?” Asked Roman.</p><p>”I investigated, after today's events”</p><p>”Well, their simple existence shouldn't be possible, but the thought of them possessing actual magic is quite believable, did you see the necklace he had?” Explained Logan<br/>”the one Dr. Dee took away?” Asked Roman.</p><p>”That one, it glowed while we were there, I had to examine it and I couldn’t find any type of mechanism on it that could cause the pearl to shine”</p><p>“Ha! I knew they had magic!” Said Roman.</p><p>”It's just a theory, but if they do, there's no way to know what they're capable of” said Logan.</p><p>”You don't have a way to figure it out?” Asked Jane.</p><p>”no, the only way we could know is if he told us, but it seems like he's not capable of talking, or at least not in our language, putting him in danger might work, he could use his magic to defend or protect himself, but I doubt Dr. Dee would want to risk such a rare specimen”</p><p>”Speaking of which” said Roman with his mouth full, the he swallowed what he was eating to continue taking ”Do you think there are more like him?”</p><p>“Maybe, I mean, if he’s not the first one of his kind, following laws of nature, there is the possibility there had to be two specimens who had-“</p><p>“Brought him to the world, right” Interrupted Roman</p><p>“But, again, there’s not a way to know for sure”</p><p>Roman and Jane looked at each other for a brief moment before continuing with their food.</p><p>The rest of the lunch ended normally, as well as the rest of the day, Logan went back to work after eating and came back for dinner, the subject of the merman got out a couple of times, but there was no new relevant information about him.</p><p>When the night came, each Sander sibling was struggling to fall asleep, they all had their reasons, but everyone was thinking about Patton, and while Logan was amazed with him, both Roman and Jane were worried about him.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 2 - Walking on land</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After a hard day, Jane and Roman try to act normal and go to school</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Jane woke up the next morning, Logan was already in the kitchen making breakfast, and Roman was probably still asleep.</p><p>”Good morning, how did you sleep?” Asked Logan once he saw her.</p><p>”Meh, not that good”</p><p>”Is there a reason for it?”</p><p>”I guess I was just thinking about the costumes for the play” said Jane, lying again, she didn't like to do it, but if she told Logan that he was thinking about the merman he would ask why, and something could slip from her mouth, she couldn't risk.</p><p>”Are you the only one doing them?” Said Logan, leaving a plate in the table.</p><p>”Cath helps with the design and the patterns, but I do the most part”</p><p>”Maybe you should ask other students for help”</p><p>”Maybe” said Jane, sitting and waiting for Logan to serve the breakfast.</p><p>”Do you know if Roman's awake, you two are going to get late if he doesn't come soon” Logan served the breakfast and sat next to Jane, eating some of his own.</p><p>”You know he always ignores his alarm” Jane sighed, eating a piece of her food ”And if I go and wake him up, he'll say-”</p><p>”A prince needs his beauty sleep” said both of them at the same time, and giggled a little afterwards.</p><p>”I can hear you you know” Said Roman, he sat next to Logan and started eating.</p><p>”Sorry Ro, it's just funny, you say it every time someone tries to wake you up” said Jane.</p><p>”And yet, you two keep doing it” Roman huffed and continued eating.</p><p>Logan rolled his eyes and looked at his phone that had start to sound “Excuse me” he said, standing up and picking up his phone, he answered and made his way to the living room.</p><p>Roman turned to Jane “did you even sleep last night?”</p><p>“Do I look that bad?”</p><p>“You know what I mean, you were thinking about the merman weren’t you?”</p><p>Jane sighed “yes, and I see you were too”</p><p>“And I bet Logan too, do you really think we can get him out of there?”</p><p>“I hope so, but the sooner the better”</p><p>Roman stayed silent for a second “but...aren’t you a little curious?”</p><p>“What?” Jane looked directly at Roman “curious about what?”</p><p>“I mean, you don’t see a merman every day, and I doubt that if we free him he’ll ever come back, we could let Logan investigate him a little, just to answer simple questions we all have, and then we free him”</p><p>“Are you serious?” Jane did her best to keep her voice low ”if he stays there any longer, he's just going to become a test subject, part of an investigation, and that could end revealing the ones of their kind, I told you before, there has to be a reason why anyone has never claimed to see a merperson, a reason why they have to remain a secret”</p><p>”what are you two talking about?” Logan went back inside and sat to continue eating.</p><p>”School” said Roman, he looked at the clock, and we better get going, we don't want to be late” he stood up and went to get his things from his room, slamming shut the door behind him.</p><p>Jane stood up too and took her plate to leave it in the sink ”were you two arguing?” Asked Logan.</p><p>”I think so? I'm not really sure what happened”</p><p>”You'll figure it out, and you two never stay mad at each other for so long, so there's nothing to worry about”</p><p>Jane smiled and looked at the clock ”I'll go get my things” she walked to her room and took her backpack, she got out and knocked on Roman's door ”I'll wait you in the car”</p><p>Logan gave a kiss on the cheek to his sister and continued with his breakfast ”I'll see you at night”</p><p>Jane stopped before she could get to the door ”You're going to stay late at work again”</p><p>”Indeed, it seems my assistance is required to study the merman”</p><p>She just stood there, thinking ”see you at night then” she said without turning behind, she got out of the house and into Roman’s car, a few minutes later, Roman got out and then sat next to Jane, he turned the car on and started driving to the school.</p><p>They were both in silence for a while, until Jane broke it “Roman I-“</p><p>“You were right” interrupted Roman.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You were right before, I am curious about him and his whole species, but if we force him to stay when we were supposed to be setting him free, we’ll be back at the start, doing what Dee and the whole lab is doing”</p><p>“But still, I think I got a little too angry at you” said Jane, looking through the window, it was weird talking about her own kind with someone, she just wanted to take Patton back to the ocean as soon as possible, then they could forget this ever happened, at least she knew now how her brother’s reaction would have been.</p><p>“I understand, but I want to know something” Roman stopped the car at a red light and looked at Jane “why do you always sound so serious when you talk about him?”</p><p>“What do you mean?” She asked, looking at her brother.</p><p>“You tell me there has to be a reason for merpeople to stay as a secret, but you say it like you’re sure of it, there’s not even the slightest doubt on your voice, why are you so sure?”</p><p>“Well...” Jane thought for a moment “If you were a mythical magical creature, and you were aware of how humans behave when they find something different, something they don’t understand, if you were aware that you could end being studied, sold, used as entertainment just because you had the luck to born as a specie that will never be good enough or normal for the rest of the world, wouldn’t you want to stay hidden?”</p><p>Roman was shocked, he wasn’t expecting an answer like that “I guess not... but that’s the problem, they’re focused on staying away from everything just because they’re different when that’s what makes them different”</p><p>Jane raised an eyebrow “what?”</p><p>“If you think about it, if they weren’t afraid of us all the time, and if they weren’t hidden all the time, humans would be used to seeing them, just like we’re used to see wild animals, or any other specie different from us”</p><p>Jane huffed at the us “even if, humans are known for chasing and killing all kinds of animals”</p><p>The boy hummed “I guess you do have a point there”</p><p>The conversation would have continued if it wasn’t for the school’s bell, they were just a street away so they could hear it perfectly “shit we’re going to be late” said Jane, her brother looked forward and got back to the road towards their school, he parked the car and they got out of it, both running to their respecting classes waving to her brother.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 2 - Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Virgil gets in trouble trying to help Patton, however, Jane is too distracted with something, or rather someone else.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jane stood up from her seat in class when the bell rang, it was finally lunch break, she got out of her classroom and walked to her locker, she took the lock off and tried to open it, but it was stuck ”Great”</p><p>She pulled harder, but nothing happened, she was starting to get desperate, she was losing time but she needed to leave her books an backpack ”Need some help?” Someone asked.</p><p>The girl turned her head to see the stranger that was talking to her and sighed relieved “yes” she got away from the locker and let the girl open it “thanks Cath”</p><p>Cath pulled the locker door a couple pf times until it opened “No problem, I’m always up for helping a damsel in distress” she said turning to see Jane, and stepping aside so that she could use the locker.</p><p>The shorter girl chuckled and blushed slightly “You’ve spent a lot of time with Roman” she took her backpack off and placed it inside of the locker “Speaking of, weren’t you supposed to arrive at rehearsal?”</p><p>“Yes but, I didn’t had classes today, and I wanted to pass by and say hi to my favorite designer”</p><p>“Please, I’m not that good”</p><p>“Are you kidding? Of course you are” she said, taking an envelope out of her bag “here”</p><p>Jane looked at it and took it, she opened it revealing the drawings of the costumes for the school play she had done “you finished checking them already? I gave them to you on Friday”</p><p>“And they were perfect, maybe there were just some little details, but I did almost nothing to them, you’re getting really good at this”</p><p>Jane hid her blush behind the papers, she placed them inside the envelope again and left it on her locker before closing it.</p><p>“And, I also wanted to know if you wanted to go for a drink after your classes” said Cath.</p><p>She thought for a second, she had planned to go to talk to Virgil during lunch break and notify him about the camera so that he wouldn't try to talk to Patton, then come back to the school and go with him to think of another plan at the end of the day, but she thought about what Roman told her, his words ringing on her head ’You’re only looking for an excuse to not go out with Cath’ she sighed and said ”I have something to do after school, but we can go now if you want” </p><p>Cath smiled and offered her hand to Jane ”It's a date then”</p><p>Blushing, she took the taller girl's hand, Virgil was probably alright, he wouldn't take the risk that easily, she kept thinking about it while they got out of the school holding each other's hand.</p><p> </p><p>Virgil swam in circles around the cave, why was Jane taking so long to appear? Had she abandoned him? What if she told the humans about him? What if they were looking for him? Had he made a mistake by trusting her?</p><p>He stopped swimming and looked around once more, sighing when no one appeared, he was definitely not going to look for her, but he could go and see Patton right? He could try to free him once more, and if he couldn't he could just talk to him.</p><p>He started swimming towards the lab, totally oblivious of the camera the humans had installed, when he arrived, he saw Patton swimming inside ”Pat!” He said, grabbing the bars of the grid and catching the prince's attention, who swam closer to him.</p><p>”Virgil! Do you have the screw-thing to free me?” He said looking around ”Where's Jane?”</p><p>”I have no idea, she didn't appear to help, but, I wanted to talk to you while she's not here, I miss my best friend after all”</p><p>”aww Virge, what do you want to talk about?”</p><p>”What do you think? Or who do you think?”</p><p>Patton sighed ”I told you, I trust her, and she's the only help we have on land”</p><p>”But humans aren't trustable, and even if she's one of us, she has spent a lot of time surrounded by humans, how do we know that she isn't brainwashed or something?”</p><p>”Because she trusts me too, she told me her story, and besides I don't think humans can brainwash, now, can we stop talking about her?”</p><p>Virgil sighed ”alright, what do you want to talk about?”</p><p> </p><p>Dee walked through his office, he sat on his desk chair and left his coffee on it, he turned to see the monitor next to his computer, he had asked to have control over the underwater camera, there was nothing interesting happening outside, he was about to turn his computer on to work when he saw movement.</p><p>A figure appeared on the screen, another one, it got closer to the one they had and they seemed to be talking about something, unfortunately, the camera didn't had a microphone, so if they were talking on English, Dee was not able to hear them.</p><p>The scientists pressed a button on a communicating device he had on his desk “there's another one outside, go get him” he said, he raised his finger and kept looking at the screen, things would get interesting if he managed to get two specimens.</p><p> </p><p>Virgil kept talking to Patton, he mostly asked what the humans did to him while he was trapped, but they also talked about usual stuff.</p><p>They both heard a splash and Virgil looked away from Patton to where the noise came from, just to see a human swimming straight to him “Oh shit” he whispered.</p><p>The purple merman sent a last glance to Patton and started to swim away.</p><p>The human stopped in front of the captive merman, he pressed a button on the side of his suit “sir, it’s swimming away”</p><p>“I don’t care, go after it, I’ll send some people to help you” the response was loud enough for Patton to hear, but without his pearl he couldn’t warn Virgil, all he could do was watch as the human went after his friend.</p><p> </p><p>Virgil didn’t dare to look back, he just swam as fast as he could, he only stopped once he was sure he was far enough, he hid behind a rock and looked back, trying to see if he had lost the human, just to see a boat sailing on his direction, he swam away scared, didn’t even bothering on seeing if that both belonged to the lab where they kept Patton captive.</p><p>He found a better hiding spot and started to freak out, they saw him, they knew he existed, one human knowing of his existence was bad enough, even if he never did anything to find him after that night, and now a whole corporation knew he existed.</p><p>The merman grabbed his earring and closed his eyes, trying not to have a panic attack, hearing Patton’s voice on his head telling him to breath, he focused and thought about Jane, even if he didn’t fully trusted her, she was the only one that could help him right now.</p><p>He focused on her, using his pearl to connect with hers, and hoped she would see his call of help.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 2 - Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In order to help Virgil, Jane skips her last classes and goes to the see, however, the only choice they have doesn't make Virgil that happy</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jane had almost forgot about the issue with Virgil and Patton at this point, she was way too focused on her date with Cath, she couldn't stop staring between her eyes as they looked back at her and her lips as they moved while she talked. Lost in her own world, she lost track of time, if it wasn't for the alarm she normally had on her phone to remember to head to class, she would have been late, Cath stopped talking when Jane's phone rang, she quickly looked at it and turned it off.</p><p>”Sorry Cath, I have to go back to school now” Jane said standing up.</p><p>”It's okay” Cath stood up as well ”I’ll go with you”</p><p>They paid their drinks and went back to the school, the next class Jane had was theatre, there was a class that the school gave, where she acted, and a club after classes, where she designed the clothing, they had the same teacher in both classes, and Cath was doing her social service helping the theatre teacher, which meant they were both heading to the same place, the school theatre.</p><p>When the bell rang, they had already arrived at Jane’s locker again and she had already gotten her theatre stuff out, she was about to close it when she saw her pearl was shining, but unlike other times, it was shining on a purple shade, Virgil’s purple, she closed her locker and looked at Cath, her brain hurried to think of an excuse.</p><p>“I just remembered I have something else to do, go ahead and I’ll go when I finish” she said.</p><p>Cath raised an eyebrow “Don’t you want me to go with you?”</p><p>Jane took the other girl’s hands “I don’t want to get you in trouble, I’ll be fine”</p><p>“Okay then” The taller girl gave Jane a short kiss on the cheek and let go of her hands “I’ll see you later then” she said walking away.</p><p>Jane followed her with her sight, leaning in the lockers and sighing, she really was crushing on that girl, Jane priorities, focus.</p><p>She walked out of the school and left her stuff on Roman’s car, leaving him a sticky note on the steering wheel “I went home, got some stuff to do”</p><p>Jane ran to the shore and looked for a spot where there was no one around before jumping into the water.</p><p> </p><p>She swam to where the cave was, just to stop midway through when she saw one of the lab’s boats and a bunch of divers all around, the purple light of her bracelet became stronger once she hid behind a rock, she looked around and spotted Virgil, hiding between rocks and seaweed “Virgil” she called him, loud enough for him to hear “follow me” she said, after looking around and making sure they were far enough from the humans and started to swim back to where she came from, Virgil following behind her.</p><p>They hid once they were further away “What happened?” the asked simultaneously.</p><p>“You were supposed to come and help me free Patton” said Virgil.</p><p>“I know, I was going to but I got distracted…” said Jane, she still couldn’t believe she preferred going out with Cath than helping his friends.</p><p>Virgil made shock faces “Distracted?! This is a do or die situation!”</p><p>“And I’m sorry, we can’t get him out of there anyways, they put a camera right in front of his cell after yesterday’s events”</p><p>“Oh” Virgil looked away for a moment “That explains why they went to look after me”</p><p>Jane’s eyes went wide “They saw you?! I told you not to go to see Patton without me” the mermaid took a deep breath “You know what? We both messed up, but now we have to find a way to fix this”</p><p>“Well, I’m not going to be safe as long as those humans still around, but I can’t really go anywhere”</p><p>An idea popped into Jane’s mind “You can” she said looking a Virgil.</p><p>The merman understood what she meant “Oh no, no, no and no, I won’t”</p><p>“Is the only option we have Virge! I do it all the time and I have been fine for eleven years”</p><p>“I’m not going to turn into a human” said Virgil.</p><p>Jane sighed “Look, you can stay here and risk being seen again and captured, or you can come to land with me and we can buy us some time while we figure out a way to free Patton, what do you choose?”</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 2 - Part four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this” Virgil held Jane’s arms tightly, she convinced him to become a human after all, but walking was not easy, he couldn’t believe Jane did it like it was nothing, because his new legs didn’t want to listen to him.</p><p>“You can do it, just one foot in front of the other” Jane pulled Virgil as she walked backwards, he followed, his legs trembling with each step “there, keep going...” she slowly started to let go of the merman’s hands “you got this Virge”</p><p>Virgil tried to grab onto the mermaid’s arms once more, but she kept trying to pull away until she managed to finally let him go, he walked one ore step before collapsing into the ground, he groaned “This is imposible!”</p><p>Jane sighed “You’ll get the hand of it” she said as she sat next to her friend “You just have to keep practicing.</p><p>“Nop, I’m giving up, this was a bad idea” he sighed “can I just please go back to the ocean?”</p><p>“Sure” Jane stood up and walked to her room’s window door and opened it “But you have to get there yourself”</p><p>Virgil groaned once more “Can’t you take me? It’s not that far”</p><p>“Exactly, which is why you should be able to get there all alone”</p><p>“Fine” the merman sat and took a deep breath before using his hands to help him stand up, he grabbed the edge of Jane’s bed and walked to the door, letting go of it when he was close enough, he almost fell again, but he was fast enough to regain his balance, he stopped when he got to the door “I didn’t need your help anyways”</p><p>Jane smirked “And now you know how to walk, you’re welcome” she closed the door and walked to her bed, sitting on it.</p><p>Virgil stood there, mouth and eyes widened “You tricked me?”</p><p>“It was the only way you would gain the guts to do it” she answered tapping the side of her bed a couple of times.</p><p>Virgil crossed his arms and walked to where the mermaid was, sitting next to her while pouting “Okay, I know how to walk, now what?”</p><p>"There's some other stuff I need to teach you about humans, but I guess you're fine for now, but we do have to come up with a story to cover you"</p><p>There was a knock on the door, Jane glanced at her clock realising Roman should be home already "That's my brother" she said standing up.</p><p>"Wait" Virgil said grabbing her arm "what are we going to tell him?"</p><p>"Just... agree to what I said, we'll be fine" Virgil frowned but let go of Jane's arm either way.</p><p>She walked to the door and opened it "Can you explain what was so important for you to skip rehearsal?"</p><p>"I'm glad to see you too dear brother"</p><p>Roman rolled his eyes "Sorry, I was just worried when you didn't show up" his eyes went further into the room, spotting Virgil "who's that?"</p><p>Jane opened the door fully and leaned on it "He's Virgil, an old friend of mine, Virgil, this is my brother Roman" the merman just waved awkwardly in response.</p><p>"Uh...Hi" he turned to his sister once more "Why is he here?"</p><p>"There's a lot of trouble on his house, and he asked me if he could stay here for a while, if you don't mind of course"</p><p>Roman forced a smile "I don't but you should discuss stuff like this with us before"</p><p>"I know but this was an urgent matter" she said returning the forced smile.</p><p>"Fine, just be sure to talk with Logan about it when he gets home, and no more skipping classes okay?"</p><p>"Promise" Roman waved one last time to Virgil before going to his ow room.</p><p>Jane closed the door "well, that issue's fixed, now, lets continue teaching you human stuff"</p><p> </p><p>Logan walked through the lab, gathering different stuff and writing on his notebook, he was well aware of the curious eyes that watched him from the pool, he was the only human in the room after all.</p><p>Dee decided to keep the people involved on this investigation as limited as possible, and Logan was the only one in charge to study the merman's anatomy and abilities at the moment, which meant he was alone most of the time.</p><p>He kept working, and the merman’s gaze started to bother him after a while, he sighed and turned to see him “What?” He asked, as if he was going to get an answer.</p><p>The merman just blinked, swam around the pool once, and returned to the surface to keep starring at Logan.</p><p>“Do you desire to get freed?” He asked, getting another blink and a small nod as a response, he wrote down the fact that the merman was able to understand him and stood up “I’m afraid that’s not possible” he said walking to the edge of the pool and kneeling in front him “You are a very interesting discovery, letting you go would be foolish having the chance to understand you better” the merman just kept his eyes on him, Logan sighed “it’s not like you comprehend” he stood up, just to loose his balance shortly after due to the water in the floor, he let out a small yelp before falling into the water.</p><p>Confused and startled, Logan could barely open his eyes under water, he couldn’t really see that well, but he could actually see the merman getting closer, the stared at each other’s eyes for a while, the other’s big, blue and curious eyes locked with his owns, time seemed to freeze, next thing he knew, he was reaching for the mer’s hand, intertwining their fingers once he was able to grab it, he didn’t even had time to react when he felt a pair of lips against his, this made him snap back to reality, he pushed away flustered, breathing heavily, wait, breathing? He suddenly felt out of air and swam up.</p><p>Logan got his head out of the water, not even bothering to take a deep breath, he could swear that he breathed underwater for a second, just after the-</p><p>His thoughts were interrupted by the merman, who got to the surface once more, he had something on his hands, he raised them revealing Logan’s glasses “Here, they fell”</p><p>The human took them and tried to wipe the water out of them as good as possible “Thanks” he said putting them on and realised what just happened “wait... you are able to speak”</p><p>The merman gasped and covered his mouth “no I’m not” he mumbled to his hands.</p><p>The door of the lab opened before Logan could continue “Doctor Logan? Are you in here?”</p><p>Logan glanced at the door and then at the merman, he swam to the edge and got out of the pool “I am, I fell to the pool, nothing to worry about” he said taking his wet lab coat off.</p><p>“Your presence is required upstairs, and I’ll make sure to get some towels for you”</p><p>“Thanks, I’ll be up in a minute” the worker nodded and got out of the room, Logan looked back at the merman, he had sunk to the end of the pool, and he found himself missing those curious eyes starring at him, he turned his computer off, stuffed his stuff on his bag and walked out of the room.</p>
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